TODAY A MYSTERY, TOMORROW A REVELATION

TODAY A MYSTERY, TOMORROW A REVELATION

John 16:12 “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.”

        At this point our Lord made this revealing statement, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." The disciples were hearing the "all things" for the first time. He was their Friend (John 15:15)

        It was something said, as it were, in passing. He looked at them; He had told them these things. He knew how frail they were, how faulty they were, how they were failing to apprehend His teaching. How Satan had degraded their minds, emotions, and their wills to the point that redemption from their depravity would take gentle steps so that their minds, hearts, and wills could return to that state that Adam enjoyed before the fall. He understood it all, and yet with great tenderness He said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." A little earlier He had said, "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever kill you, shall think that he offers service unto God (Saul of Tarsus). These things will they do, because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you." There were things Jesus did not tell them at first. He did not tell them of the hostility that would come. He never told them about His own Cross until He had been with them three years. And now He was going, and He said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." A wonderful principle is revealed there, namely that He tells us things, reveals things to us, as we are able to bear the revelation. I look back over my life. Thank God that He did not tell me all about it at the beginning. He teaches us, as we are able to bear.

Observe Christ's pre-authentication of the N.T. Scriptures: (1) He expressly declared that He was leaving "much more" unrevealed (v. 12). (2) He promised that this revelation would be completed after the Spirit came (v. 13, lit. "guide you into all the truth"). (3) He outlined in advance exactly the elements of N.T. revelation: (a) historical - "remind you of everything I have said to you" (14:26); (b) doctrinal - interpretation of the historical facts, "teach you all things" (14:26; 16:14); and (c) prophetic - "tell you what is yet to come" (16:13). (4) He chose certain persons to receive and witness to the revelations (Mat 28:19; John 15:27; 16:13; Acts 1:8; 9:15 - 17). (5) He gave to their words, when speaking for Him in the Spirit, precisely the same authority as His own words (Mat 10:14 - 15; Luke 10:16; John 13:20; 15:20; 17:20; see e.g. 1 Cor 14:37 for Paul's consciousness of this authority). (6) That Christ expected this new revelation would be recorded is evident from such passages as John 17:20 and Acts 1:8, for only thus could the accurate witness of the chosen writers reach all nations after they had passed away. And (7) that some of the new revelation was recorded by men outside the original apostolic group (e.g. Mark and Luke) is explained by the fact that there were "prophets" in the early Church who, like Paul, were chosen by the ascended Christ (Eph. 4:11), and who not only received new revelation (Eph. 3:4 - 5) but also recorded it in "writings" (Rom 16:25 - 26).

NOTE: In 2 places it says scripture is complete. Jude was one. Jude 3 ”……….. which was once delivered unto the saints.”